


Danganronpa: Spontaneous Harem

by ViVanilla



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Awkward Hinata Hajime, Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, Basically, Dork Naegi Makoto, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Loves Reader except Hifumi, F/M, Female Protagonist, Female Reader, First Dates, Flirting, Gen, Harems, I'M JUST, I'm Bad At Tagging, Living Together, Multi, Nervous Saihara Shuichi, No One Knows What They're Doing and It's Great, Oma Kokichi Being Oma Kokichi, Reader-Insert, Romance, Sloppy Makeouts, Sort Of, There will be makeout scenes, Togami Byakuya Being An Asshole, and a pool scene, awkward everything tbh, because he is, did i mention monokuma is basically usami in this, he's also a mite tsundere, he's just there to offer pointers on how to harem protagonist, he's usami, it's my silly au, literally it's a giant harem, occasional Monokub cameos probably, occasionally Monokuma, perhaps, probably, probably a mix of every flirting tag, probably gonna have a bath scene, she's literally Kyu but me, so bad at tagging, some of them might be, there's like one OC and she's not gonna show up a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-08-26 21:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16689493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViVanilla/pseuds/ViVanilla
Summary: After a weird and unforeseen event in your life, you're thrust into the realm of being a harem protagonist against your will--by an unusual and mildly annoying woman who claims this is like a sort of...Dating Game.And now because of all this you're stuck in a large house with a harem. A harem of 24 boys, in this unusual parody of a series popularized for its absurdity and eccentricity.Well, better get to know them, then!--Short summary even shorter: it's a reverse harem with all the DR boys also this prompt is stupid but i finally get the chance to write it out so you get my trash





	1. Welcome to the House, Protag-chan!

**Author's Note:**

> i probably should be focusing on that one gonta collection i made and am still working on but at the same time i remembered THIS stupid prompt that i thought up when i first joined the fandom--and now it's expanded to this.
> 
> I'm thinking of making a version for the girls as well, and more stuff that I can think about later.
> 
> anyway yes enjoy this stupid thing that might not even really get popular, but--who cares, i write for fun anyway

You woke up with a small groan as someone opened the curtains in your bedroom, making the sun shine in.

"Wakey-wakey, it's time to start! It's past noon, after all," a female voice rang out with an annoying joy you weren't ready for when first waking up.

"Start what..? Start the day with a headache?" you grumbled, getting out of your bed before realizing exactly what in the world just happened.

Immediately, you turned to the source of the voice as she seemingly ignored your grumpiness to straighten up the room a bit. What--who was this woman? She was dressed head to toe in what you can only assume is like, a businesswoman-matchmaker outfit or something, and she had this unusual aura about her, even if besides the outfit, her dark curly hair and slightly tanned skin looked normal.

"Wait, who are you?"

"Hm?"

She turned to you with a smile, it made you feel weird, as she walked to you.

"Oh, right, you were asleep when this all happened! Well, you'll learn in due time, but for now, lets just get you ready!"

And with a swift wave of her hand, it seemed only a few seconds passed until you were apparently ready to greet whatever potentially hellish situation you were being thrust into. She hurried you to the door of the room, which you had no time to examine other than the fact it was a nice pastel color, and then she opened the door just in time for you to see some round, huge guy walk in front of it, seemingly turning to go to another room. He stopped to stare at you two with a raised eyebrow, and the other woman accompanying you greeted him.

"Oh, hello, Hifumi! Going to your room already?"

"Well, what else would I be doing? Socializing?" he scoffed but also snickered a bit at that, "Those guys get a bit too wild for me. So, wait, is this our...protagonist?"

Protagonist?

"Yep-yep! Isn't she cute?"

"....well, hm, I suppose she is. Ehm, what's your name, Ms. Protagonist?"

"...." you hesitated a bit, before the girl behind you spoke for you.

"Y/N, L/N! Jeez, were you even listening earlier, Hifumi?"

"Dude, what the hell?! You're giving my name to a complete stranger! Wait, you're a stranger too! How do you know my name?!" you obviously lashed out at her, pulling away and turning to her with conviction as she seemed a bit disappointed.

"This again? Listen, I'll explain on the way, Y/N, but, for now....do trust me a bit, alright? I won't hurt you."

You just stared, before sighing. If this was a kidnapping, maybe it'd be best to go along with it for now, that way, you could at least gain their trust, and make your escape when they think you're good. Sounds like a good plan for now. Nodding, you heard the Hifumi guy clear his throat from behind you.

"Are you done now?" he asked, pushing his glasses up, "Listen, I know this is a really....really.........really absurd situation we're in, BUT! I think you might grow a bit more accustomed to it after Ms. Lilian explains everything to you, Ms. L/N," he says after awkwardly looking at "Lilian" and fixing his pants a bit, "And, don't worry--normally, I don't really associate much with women, but, if you need any advice on this matter, come to me, I know everything there is to know about harems."

And with that, Hifumi meandered down the hall, turning a corner before you both heard a door shut in the distance. Wait, did he say harem? W a i t, what??? What in the world is happening??

But as you dwelled on that, Lilian supposedly heard your thoughts or at least knew your worries, and so she began to talk as she was dragging you down the hall.

"So, I'm guessing we should probably start from the beginning--you see....there was a certain thing about you that it seemed a certain person was interested in observing. I'm gonna tell you her name because, well, I honestly doubt you'd ever meet her. She was from Hope's Peak Academy, as the Observer of Talent, and her name is Junko Enoshima," she started off, "You see, Junko grew an affinity for watching you in particular due to the fact your Talent was something that was rarely ever seen. It was extremely unique and she wanted to observe its effects more than she could in the regular school environment."

Turning a corner, she continued, "So, she created a separate compartment of the school, where you and at least 24 other students--particularly males--would stay in the same environment as you, in order to study what effects your talent would have on all of them."

Was this true? "Wait....what?"

"....JUST KIDDING! Well, mostly! Junko's the Ultimate Fashionista, do you think we'd really have a complex plot in a fic like this?"

"Fic?"

"Anyway, hon, this is partially due to your talent, but the majority of Hope's Peak has like....nothing to do with this! They didn't choose to trap you here, I did~!"

You glared at her, and she just ignored it and continued.

"You see, I was very intrigued by your talent. It's a stupid one, for sure, but somehow it's also so intriguing to me! So, with permission from Hope's Peak, somehow, I decided to host a little....mm, would we call it a game? To help your talent grow and flourish!" she explains, "They took that as a good enough excuse and while they helped me build this huge house, this game is...not their idea, all of it was me!"

"Wait, first you said this was a fic--now it's a game? ...what kind of game, even?"

Lilian grinned, "Well, you know those famed "Killing Games" that are like, really famous all over TV and stuff? It's...kinda like that, but this time it's more of a..." she thought for a moment, before speaking again, "A Dating Game!"

* * *

After getting over the absolute ridiculousness of such a contrived plot, you just realized you had been pushed outside to a courtyard of some sort. No one else had been showing up in or around the house so far, you were starting to worry if it was just you, Hifumi....and this crazy woman, alone in this house.

"So, wait, you said it was like the Killing Game shows or something? So does that mean there's a Monokuma too?"

As soon as you said it, you heard the familiar childish sound effect of Monokuma spawning in the area, and after comedically falling from the air, he stood up straight, "Yep-yep!" the only difference to this Monokuma was that...he was dressed like that one character, who was she--Usami? You haven't watched that show in ages.

You stared at him incredulously. Regardless of his attire, this seriously cannot be happening, you should be in school right now!

"Although, don't worry about the whole fact that I was kind of made for the Killing Games--in this AU, I'm just here to be occasional comedic relief and exposition! Oh, and to also let you know important things like when the house gets renovated or something."

Ah, so at least he wouldn't be much of a bother. Much of, you knew he'd probably still be a bother in other ways, but right now you just nodded along, with a monotonous expression. Half of you still believes this is a dream, watching as Monokuma vanished into thin air after bouncing a bit, but half of you knew that was probably not true.

"Now, then, I've explained to you--" "Not really." "--kind of explained to you the situation that you're in. It's a Dating Game, and it revolves around your talent!"

"But you've been saying I have an Ultimate Talent this whole time. I don't even remember it, so how am I supposed to--" "You'll figure it out eventually. That, or I'll just have to tell you."

 Lilian pushed you forward gently, "But! For now, you should acquaint yourself with the others living here! They were all in the entrance hall until they spread out after I explained this stuff to them! So they're all scattered about.." she looked around the large and somewhat open area.

"You shouldn't have much trouble finding them though--the majority of them are loud and stand out a lot, since, y'know, they're Ultimates," she laughed a bit, before fixing her bow tie and stepping away.

"Once you're done, you should probably find your way to the dining hall to eat dinner, because by the time you're done greeting everyone, it'd probably be past regular bedtime," Lilian said, not explaining anymore of that before snapping her fingers and vanishing in a pink smoke cloud. She was like a ninja, but lamer.

Blinking as the dust slowly was blown away by the wind, you sighed. Okay, well, since you were still going to go along with it in the case that this _was_ actually a life-threatening situation, you mustered up resolve and walked in a random direction. Not too long after, you saw three boys talking amongst themselves, and smiled.

 _"Oh, that was easier than I thought it'd be,"_ you thought, going over to them, making your footsteps a bit louder and waving to get their attention.

The dark-haired one was the first one to notice you, looking up at you as the other two, the brunettes, looked at you as well.

"Oh, hello. You must be, uhm, Y/N, right?" the shortest of the two brunettes spoke up, his green eyes shining curiously. He gave off an odd aura of enthusiastic innocence that was hard to ignore as he smiled.

"Uh, yeah, that's me. I mean, I dunno if there are even any other girls here, so.." you laughed nervously as he returned it.

"Yeah, that's probably true," he rubbed the back of his head, before fixing that green hoodie of his, "Oh, I guess I should probably introduce myself before casually kicking off conversation--my name's Makoto Naegi. It's nice to meet you, Y/N," he held out his hand for a handshake and you smiled and took it.

"I'm guessing you're confused too, huh?" he asks, and when you nod, his expression grew a bit serious.

"We've been here trying to deduce the situation we're in, too," Makoto continued talking, "We were pretty convinced that either we're in a really detailed lucid dream...or we got kidnapped or something. So a lot of us split up to try and find our way out."

"From what the others have told us so far, and what we've seen of this place, it doesn't really look like there's really any place we can get out from here," the black-haired one spoke up, putting his fingers to his chin and looking up, "It doesn't look like it from here, but there are these huge iron bars that go miles up into the sky. Like a dome."

He pauses before continuing, his gaze serious, "Multiple of us have tried to break some of it off or even climb it, since the bars are crossed over each other, but it's not working so far."

You rose your brows a bit. Wow, he was very observant, wasn't he?

But immediately after, he flinched, suddenly looking nervous and shy. Clearing his throat, he gave you an apologetic smile, "I, uh, already went off without introducing myself. Sorry about that, haha.." he cleared his throat, before hesitantly holding his hand out to you. You shook it as he talked.

"I'm Shuichi Saihara, it's, uh, nice to meet you, Y/N."

"Yeah, same," you nod to him with a small smile.

Noticing that the other brunette had looked like he was thinking this whole time, you went to him as Shuichi and Makoto began to discuss something else, "Hey, now, who are you?"

He jumped, "Oh, sorry. My name is Hajime Hinata," he quickly introduced himself before suddenly falling back into thought. He seemed very concerned about something, and although part of you knew a situation like this was definitely a valid reason of concern, you just felt you should make sure nothing else was wrong. Feeling concern for a random stranger, hnm.

Blinking in confusion, you tapped his shoulder, "Hey, you alright? I mean, you've been silent since I got here."

"What?" he looked up at you, in a momentary shock, before calming down with a bit of embarrassment, "Sorry about that. I kinda..spaced out, while thinking about this whole mess," he explains. Fixing his tie just a bit, he looked down in thought again. "I mean, doesn't something just seem off about this? I get that it's normal now, but, for some reason I have a feeling eventually they're gonna make us do something...totally crazy."

He looked at you again, "I mean, you have 24 guys, and 1 girl. That just gives me so many bad vibes."

You felt your heart drop just a teensy bit at that. Well, it made sense for him to think so. It was a pretty sketchy setup, what you had here, especially with Lilian, and Monokuma. Who's to say this isn't a Killing Game being covered up as some saccharine, cheesy romcom or whatever?

"...s-sorry, I worried you, didn't I?" Hajime looks at you apologetically, "I mean, maybe it is something pretty normal or...well, whatever Lilian said, I just--I dunno, it gives me a bad feeling."

"...well, that's totally understandable," you nod at him, but regain composure and smile reassuringly, "And, yeah, I see where you're coming from. I'm kinda worried about it too, but," you grin, "We have 25 people, and they're all Ultimates--well, I mean, I think--so clearly we have more power on our side, don't you think?"

"..that's true, I guess," he nods, smiling a tiny bit, "So I guess we're not totally powerless."

"Not at all! And, if we are in some sorta kidnapping scenario, maybe if we "prove they can trust us" or whatever, we can gain an easy way out!" you smiled brightly, "This situation is weird, but it's anything but hopeless."

"Exactly right!" Makoto spoke up, walking over to you two with a cheerful smile of his own, "I get your worries, too, Hajime. And Shuichi, you guys are both uneasy, huh?" he fixed his jacket, and gave a determined look to his fellow males, "But, we can't lose hope yet just because everything seems bleak. I'm sure if we band together, eventually, we'll see a good final outcome!"

The two more reluctant males looked at each other, before smiling a bit, and nodding.

"But, really, we can't band together properly if Y/N has no idea who the others are, can we?" Shuichi points out.

"Yeah, that's true.." Hajime nods, "....well, I guess it's time for a huge meet and greet, then."

You laughed nervously as you nodded, "Yeah....hoo, boy, this is gonna take a while, isn't it?"

Makoto laughed a bit, and the four of you turned to go explore the area and meet the others.

"Well, I think the amount of interesting people you'll meet could make up for the time," he points out with a small confident smirk. You raise a brow, then just nod and take his word for it as you all began the trip to meet everyone.

And that, dear friends, is how our story begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw comments and critiques are totally welcome and honestly appreciated  
> but pls dont expect this story to be perfect it was based off of a prompt i made up in like ten minutes skskgs


	2. Meeting New Suitors--er, Friends!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet everybody.
> 
> ..t-that's it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why did this story get attention again?  
> Wow, the DR fandom must be very accepting of new writers. Which is good!
> 
> Also, this will either be an extremely long chapter or a two or more parter. We'll see!

And so, here you were, walking around the place with the three boys you just met. The four of you were chatting amongst yourselves.

"Well, I see you've decided to show your faces around me again," a smug sounding voice spoke out.

Suddenly the four of you were approached by a tall but not really intimidating figure with blonde hair, and a black suit.

"So let's hope you've found out something useful," he spoke, pushing up his glasses and crossing his arms.

_"Oh...this one's kinda attractive,"_ you thought. A bit out of the blue, and you immediately regretted it after what he said next.

"Um, well...not really? But we did meet who we're going to be living wi--" Makoto was cut off with a small scoff.

"I'm not interested then."

He didn't even give you four a second glance as he turned to march away, "Until you've found something of absolute importance, don't come near me."

_"Okay, wow, what an ass,"_ you scowled at him, "Hey, uh, yeah, I don't think you have the right to be saying that when you were the one who approached us trying to get more info."

"Isn't it a logical assumption that these three should've found something important by now?" He spoke, "Of course I would think to ask them, if they've been occupied for this long."

He brushed some of his golden locks behind his ear, "Though, in spite of the three hours they've been separated from everyone, all they bring to me is some woman I could care less about. What a foolish premise for a game.."

With that, he sent you a glare, and you just sent one back. You looked like you wanted to go and just smack him in the face, which was probably what everyone who just met him would want to do, but Hajime held you back with a surprisingly strong but not painful grip. Although he had the same look you did.

The guy turned to go away before you called out for him again. You saw him sigh in annoyance before turning to you four, "What? I'm going to look around some more."

"Alright, nice guy, good to establish what our stances on everything are on the first meeting. But, if you wouldn't mind, at least tell me your name?" You straightened up, wrangling from Hajime's grip, "No matter if you like it or not, eventually all of us will have to come together as a team and discuss things. So it'd be nice to at least know who I'm gonna be forcedto get to know better."

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Makoto, who flinched.

"...well, she's not..wrong. I mean, you know how some of the guys are...and Lilian," the boy answered nervously with a small smile.

Glasses and Insults sighed, "Well, I suppose you have a point. Surprisingly," he pushed up said glasses and turned to you again, crossing his arms.

"My name is Byakuya Togami. You know, I'm surprised you didn't back down after I spoke to you, nor did you lose your cool...completely," he got a somewhat dark, intrigued smile on his face, "So, if there is no way out of this mess, at least I know you'll entertain me somewhat."

You just scowled at Byakuya as he strode away.

".....psh, for a guy with sticks for legs, he seems rather cheeky," you began to walk forward as well, hearing Hajime and Makoto snicker a bit behind you as Shuichi laughed anxiously. You four moved on, but didn't turn to go in the direction he did, instead opting to go towards what seemed to be a greenhouse.

But after you and Byakuya parted ways, what you didn't notice among chatting with the other three was that your phone had lit up, inside of your pocket.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

* * *

 

As you approached the greenhouse to look around it some more, you looked around the area.

This particular area seemed to be well kept, and there were trees circling the area where the greenhouse sat in the center. Although the greenhouse looked very expansive and detailed on the inside, you were more focused on the two boys who were digging at and around the large dome, somewhat behind the greenhouse.

"Hey...w--what are they..what.." you looked at the three boys, flabbergasted, and they all looked just as bewildered as you did.

"...well, I mean--at least we have something to talk about now..?" Makoto suggested.

Shuichi gave a tired sigh, "I'm ready to call it a day already," he laughed weakly as you all approached the two boys.

"Uh, s'cuse me. W..What are you--" you were cut off by the wild-haired one and oh boy did his hair look like....drugs. But then you realized they were dreads and mentally smacked yourself for thinking that momentarily.

"Oh, hey, Makoto! Mind givin' me a hand?" he spoke, seemingly not even noticing you and the other two boys, "We're trying to look for OOParts! Particularly, ones that might help us out a bit! Or maybe a tiny remote-controlled UFO or something that we can have Kazuichi fix up for us!" he fixed his jacket, standing up and wiping dirt from his hands. To be honest, he looked kinda sleazy.

"Actually, um, Gonta not looking for OOParts only, trying to see if Gonta can dig enough to find opening under dome! Kokichi said might be underground escape somewhere!" the taller, more intimidating looking of the two spoke, not even looking back at you three.

"Wouldn't it be easier to go look for a shovel to dig..?" You don't know why  _that_  was what you were questioning right now, but it's what came out. The wild-haired guy looked at you like you were nuts.

"And risk having to pass by the man-eating tree to get to the tool shed?! Are you mad?!" he paused after looking frightened, and suddenly got a contemplative look on his face, rubbing his chin, "Oh, wait, actually..you think that was a Dryad?" he laughed a bit, almost seeming embarrassed, "Cuz, if it was, I guess I  _could_  go in there to find a shovel. As long as I didn't step on its roots, I'm sure I'll be fine!" he was just rambling on as if he forgot you were there..

"Um, that's...nice, Hiro, but, can you introduce yourself? We kinda met the girl that Lilian told us about," Shuichi spoke softly, looking at the bigger man in uncertainty.

"Hiro" blinked, before looking at you and gasping, "Ohhh, so that wasn't a lie! Psh, it's hard to believe someone would trap us all with one girl, but I guess she's physical proof! Or...wait, is she a hallucination?!" he backed away from you.

"No. I'm pretty sure I'm real," you said, holding out a hand hesitantly, "I'm Y/N, as I assume Lilian might've told you all already. Nice to meet you..."

"....well, you don't seem malicious," he mumbles, taking your hand in his still slightly dirty one and giving a hearty chuckle, "I'm Yasuhiro Hagakure! But you can call me Hiro, for short!" he lets go and puts his hands on his hips, "I mean, I dunno anything about this Dating Game business, but I guess you're pretty cute! ....uh, wait, you are an adult, right?"

You nod and he sighs in relief.

"Jeez, I was gonna get worried she was trying to make me date a kid or something--that'd be messed up, man," and as soon as he said that, Monokuma popped up from out of the trees next to the other boy, who yelped and fell over in his surprisingly deep hand-dug hole already. All three of your companions also looked startled.

Hiro screamed, "WAIT, DON'T HURT ME!!" he fell onto his butt, scooting away from the frilly and prettily-dressed bear.

Monokuma just clicked its tongue, "Jeez, I'm not! But I overheard your conversation and," he growled, "WHAT KINDA PERSON DO YOU THINK I AM?!"

So it must be Lilian controlling him. I mean, who else.

Monokuma calmed down as Hiro shivered in fear. "Listen, I know dating sims and H-games with high schoolers are disgustingly common, but Y/N here is a full-fledged grown adult! And all of the other contestants are, too!" he glared, crossing his tiny arms and tapping his foot, "So don't you dare try to put that label on us, sir! It's defamation!"

"I-I wasn't even really accusing you of it, t-though," Hiro stuttered, "I-I just wanted to make extra sure.."

"Well, whatever! Point being, WE'RE NOT HOSTING A GAME OF HIGH-SCHOOLERS! Otherwise, you'd definitely be running around the streets trying to escape the yakuza whilst swindling people of their money!" Monokuma states and Hiro nods with a surprisingly calm expression.

"Fair point."

"Why are you reacting like that's a normal situation..?" Hajime sighed at the guy, giving him a confused look.

"Anyway, that's all! Jeez, thinking I'm that deluded and sick.." Monokuma began to waddle off, before pausing, and roaring at Hiro again, causing the poor guy to yelp and huddle into a shivering ball. Monokuma laughed and then bounced away.

"Um...Gonta...kind of stuck! Can anyone please help??" the boy in the hole shouted, "..please..?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry Gonta!" Makoto and Hajime ran to help, as Shuichi checked on Hiro.

You smirked a bit at Hiro, "You're really scared of that bear?" you kneeled next to him and he gave you a pout, blushing from embarrassment.

"He's scary looking for a guy dressed in frills, ya know???"

You laughed softly, and Hiro seemed a bit surprised you weren't totally weirded out by him. Offering your hand, you helped him up, "Anyway, nice to meet you Hiro. You may not be totally normal, but...you're better than that Byakuya guy from before," you hit his shoulder playfully and he flinched a bit but chuckled shyly.

"I think we'll be good pals."

"Y-Yeah...."

As you parted from the now somewhat pink-faced Hiro, you went to help Hajime and Makoto with the other boy.

Shuichi watched you go, staying with Hiro. "...Y/N's pretty nice huh?"

"Y-Yeah......." Hiro gulped, "Well, time t-to get a shovel, I guess," he went to go into the greenhouse, while Shuichi decided to rejoin you three.

**Love Fragments Collected! Romancing Progress: 4%**

\--

As the small struggle to get the big guy from the ditch he basically created--which was smaller than him yet he still managed to get stuck in somehow--continued, finally, a choice tug from you on his arm freed him from his dirt ridden prison.

He let out a huge sigh of relief and shook his body like a dog's, getting most of the bigger dirt chunks off of him as you four shielded yourselves from the mess. Smiling at you, you instantly noted that despite how intimidating he looked before, he actually looked...really innocent and cute.

His tone was just as happy and cheerful as his expression, "Thank you for helping Gonta! No know how he get stuck in hole, really..."

"It was probably deep enough despite being pretty small that you just...stayed there or something," Makoto suggests and Gonta nods.

"That true, hole come up to Gonta's waist!" He says, pointing out the obvious.

"Gonta, huh? So is that your name or what..?" If it was a type of pronoun you would be flabbergasted. Since it seemed more like he had no idea what first person was, more like.

"Oh, yes! Gonta's name is Gonta Gokuhara!" He steps out of the hole to greet you properly, holding the strap of the bug cage slung around his shoulder, "It be nice to meet Miss Y/N!" He smiled cheerfully.

This might be the literal purest man you've ever met in your entire life.

You giggled, and Gonta looked confused.

"What so funny?"

"It's just...you're cute," you blurted that out without thinking, and immediately froze upon realizing your words. Gonta squeaked quietly, which made you feel even stronger about that though.

"C--Cute...really?" Gonta said, scratching his cheeks as they lit up a bright pink-red, "Gonta not sure how to feel about that.."

Makoto chuckled, "Well, I mean, I think it's pretty accurate. You're the nicest one here, probably," he smiled kindly at the larger man.

Hajime and Shuichi nodded in agreement. Gonta made a cute but embarrassed noise, looking at his feet and shuffling around.

"T...Thank you. But, Gonta not really want to be cute! Gonta trying to be gentleman," he looked determined all of a sudden, "Gentlemen are handsome, not cute."

You rose a brow, "Eh, I think you qualify as being both," you teased him a bit. Gonta looked at you, still blushing, but his eyes had a sparkle in them.

"Really?! Y/N thinks Gonta handsome??" He stepped closer, "So, is Gonta closer to being gentleman??" Okaaaay, personal space. You liked Gonta already, but you pushed him back gently as he got closer. Didn't stop his excitement yet, though.

"Well, I'm not sure you're there quite yet," as he got a saddened look on his face, you spoke quickly, "BUT!! I think you're on the right track. I mean, you're helping Hiro and also trying to contribute to finding an escape!"

You gave him a thumbs up and smiled, "You're doing good in my book. I'm sure everyone appreciates your help, including me!"

Gonta stared at you in awe, as the other boys chimed in.

"Yeah, you're doing great, Gonta. I don't say it much, but you're appreciated," Shuichi says.

"Yeah, thanks for being willing to help out! We need it, especially in a situation like this!" Makoto said cheerfully.

"It's nice of you to actively want to help. Honestly it's a nice change since everyone here either doesn't really care, or thinks mostly about themselves," Hajime said with a small smile.

Gonta looked like he wanted to tear up from joy. His mouth was trembling as he scooped you all up into a crushing hug, "Thank you!! Gonta do his best to be good friend and helper!"

Although you all cringed from how strongly he squeezed, you laughed with him as the other boys just wheezed or laughed breathlessly and nervously.

"No problem, big guy! Keep up the good work!" You smiled. Aw, this was a nice change of pace compared to Byakuya.

You kinda thought the other guys might be as dickish, but guess not. Well, not  _yet_ anyway.

Although due to being wrapped up in thinking, you didn't notice you had been put down, nor did you see Gonta's look of admiration as he stared at you.

**Love Fragment Collected** **! Romancing Progress: 5%**

* * *

As you left Gonta and passed Hiro to get into the greenhouse, you marvelled at what was inside.

You've never seen a greenhouse this big and...beautiful before! It was like a mini rainforest or something in here!

There were even butterflies, and trees! What kinda budget does this place run off of?!

...well, then you remembered Hope's Peak Academy was funding Lilian's weird little project and well there's your explanation, class dismissed.

Speaking of, none of these guys mentioned their Talents yet. But, then again, it wasn't exactly the main priority as was exploring and trying to find a way out.

You'll just see if you can find out later.

Although you were walking whilst thinking and actually ended up getting separated from the three. You heard their voices but the slight echo and reverberation made it difficult to tell where they were.

"Guys, I'm fine, let's just meet at the exit!"

And with that, all noises stopped, except for the atmospheric noises of nature like water and wind. You sighed, but, hey, might as well explore.

You went over to a large and flourishing patch of hibiscus flowers, and marvelled at their colors. They even grew and covered a few trees nearby.

Looking away, you also saw large hedges lining the walls to your far right, roses of all different colors growing and nearly covering the greenness of them. The way they grew, it was like the colors were arranged, there were rows of pink, orange, purple..

Walking around more, you finally took notice of the large tree in the middle of it all. Vines and flowers strewn about, making its presence known.

You couldn't even tell how many flowers were probably on it due to the distance you were at compared to the tree, but you stared in utter wonder of its size and glory.

"Magnificent, is it not?" A sultry voice suddenly spoke to you.

Jumping a bit and turning to the source, you found a lanky, tall man staring at the tree next to you.

Although his outfit was a bit unusual and unfitting for the humidity, and his mask made him look mildly suspicious, something about him was oddly intriguing. Beautiful, even.

His gaze turned to you as he held his chin, "It's a wonder how such a variety of plants somehow lives in harmony under the same roof. Normally I'd think some plants in here could barely stand to survive in the general conditions of this greenhouse."

He chuckled and closed his eyes, "Truly an amazing creation of humanity, this place is. There's even a second extension just beyond the rose hedges, that leads to a little park-like area. Tea tables, a lake, and everything."

You looked at him in awe, then smiled, chuckling as well, "Guess that's Hope's Peak for you."

He nodded in agreement with you, as you both idly chatted a bit, sitting on one of the nearby benches. Despite his off-putting appearance, you didn't feel too wary around him.

He suddenly stopped to gasp softly, "Oh, dear, pardon my rudeness. I haven't even introduced myself," he turned to you, "My name is Korekiyo Shinguuji. It's a pleasure to meet the one I will assumingly be trying to court."

You snickered a bit after that, and he rose a brow.

"You don't seem to fond of the idea, I can feel your sarcasm from here," you tease him. He looked momentarily surprised but it lasted for only a split second as he chuckled.

"You're observant. Yes, I personally am not fond of our situation," he put a slender finger on his lips--er, mask zipper.

"Not only am I limited in where I can observe humanity, but I have someone I already have a fondness for. Being forced into a game where the primary objective is to fight for a girl's love is.." he sighed, "Less than ideal."

Your eyes widened, "Wow, I'm sorry. That must suck, being in here while you're already in love," you wondered if Lilian knew this. If so, that's pretty low.

"Well, I suppose it's not all bad. After all, even if I cannot travel as I please, there are still plenty of opportunities to observe," he stood slowly and you watched him.

"Though I know of many of the men here, seeing them sharing a living space gives me many opportunities to see new and exciting reactions or relationships," he sighed dreamily, almost hugging himself now.

"Even in limited quantities, humanity is beautiful.."

You hummed, "You know, even if you're forced in here like we are, it's kinda nice to see you don't hate it a lot," you lean forward, "If it wasn't supposed to be primarily a romantic...story, game, whatever, seems you'd enjoy it a lot."

"True, it's only mildly enjoyable now," Korekiyo looked at you, "But, perhaps things might get interesting. Who knows?"

You shrugged, "Maybe. But I'm still hoping we can get out, things could turn dangerous in the blink of an eye," although your body didn't seem to agree with what you tried telling your mind.

You shouldn't get too comfortable here! Unless there's a free spa or pool. If so, Outside World? What's that???

"Indeed," he then turned to leave, "It was nice talking to you for a bit. However, I'm going to go ahead and leave until supper. Goodbye now."

You blinked, then remembered it was literally almost sunset. "Oh, yeah, bye!"

Separating, you decided to head for the indoor park-like area he described. Maybe there would be a door to the outside of the greenhouse.

Although unbeknownst to you, Korekiyo watched you go, hidden from you by a tree.

"...hm...something about you...is very intriguing, Miss Y/N. I hope to find out  _what_ one of these days...kukuku.."

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 2%**

* * *

Still separated from the three you came with, you followed what you remember of Kiyo's description of the area leading to the small park-ish area, turning the corner at the rose hedges.

Eventually finding the branched off path, you head down an arched hallway, looking around.

You kept pressing forward and ended up in there, and you looked around again in awe. Indeed, it was as if someone took a small park and placed it here.

There was a sizeable lake in the middle of the room, surrounded by a few rose bushes.

The rose bush gate cut off to make way for an opening path, leading to the lake, and upon further inspection, there was also a circle of marble around the lake, so one could gaze in without falling.

Around that, there was what was basically a normal park. Wooden benches against the glass walls of the greenhouse, bushes and small oak trees all around, street lights in the four corners of the room, even.

And there were indeed tea tables, but also regular park lunch tables. The tea tables surrounded the lake, and one of them was occupied by three people already.

Going up to them, you clear your throat, "Excuse me? Is there any exit in here or..?"

The three boys turned to look at you. One of them, the calmest looking one with green hair, smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. As far as I can tell, this area's closed off from outside of the greenhouse," his voice was very cool and smooth, but you didn't focus much on that due to the disappointment brewing in your mind.

"Oh. Dangit. Did you at least happen to see three boys? Two brunettes, one black haired one?"

"Do you mean Makoto, Hajime, and Shuichi?" The one sitting across from green-haired guy spoke.

His voice sounded kinda business-ish yet polite and proper. He sounded serious but also kind, you suppose--wait, is that a robot?!

In your somewhat bewildered state, he asked you again, waving his hand. You flinched, and saw he was looking at you with a confused expression, so you just nodded silently as he continued, "Right...well, I did see them pass by the entrance to the hall, but they didn't come in."

So they were right there around the corner, but you didn't notice because you were talking to Korekiyo?? W o w .

"I think they were looking for the exit, and I haven't seen them since, so they might've either gotten lost somewhere else, or they found the exit before you did," he says, before smiling confidently, "But, not to worry! With the help of Byakuya's surprisingly detailed map of this place, you should be able to get out swiftly! ....once I'm done printing out a copy, as he dropped the original in the lake."

You wanted to snicker at that, the thought of Byakuya being that clumsy, before you realized he was sitting at this table..

Oh, and he also gained a few pounds. What even happened to make him look so different all of a sudden?? His face was the same, but his body...?

He was taking a sip of his tea until he saw you staring, and narrowed his eyes a bit, looking up at you, "Why are you staring? Don't you have something more productive to be doing?"

"Well, excuuuuuuse me, sir, but I just happened to get lost in this admittedly very beautiful and ridiculously large greenhouse, so I can't do much of anything right now," you replied, crossing your arms at him. He didn't seem too perturbed by your reaction, though, just sighing and actually getting up and pulling a nearby chair to the table.

"I suppose you are right. Well, then, don't stand around gawking. It's a workout getting through this place," he looks at you, "Rest for a little bit until you can do something more useful," and with that, he ate some of the biscuits on the table.

You looked at him with mild surprise, but took his offer.

"How long until the map is done?" you looked at the robot boy.

"It should not be too long, I am almost done."

You nod, and look around the place until green-haired boy speaks up again after just observing.

"So, I guess it's best that we introduce ourselves then. Since, you're new, and I'm assuming you're Y/N," he put an arm over the back of his chair, crossing his legs, "The name's Rantaro Amami. Nice to meet you," he held out his hand for a handshake and you shook it.

"I'll be lookin' forward to get to know you, you seem pretty nice already. If we don't escape, it'll be nice to grow closer to who I'm gonna have to live with. You think so, too?" he asked, and you nodded.

"Yeah, in this situation it'd probably be better to make more friends than enemies," you smile, "Nice to meet you. I like your accessories."

Rantaro rose a brow, but chuckled, "Thanks," and with that, he stopped talking for a bit, to just look around the place.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

"I don't believe we've been introduced either," Byakuya spoke up, looking at you with one eye as the other remained closed, "My name is Byakuya Togami."

Squinting, you were pretty sure that you already met him. But seeing as this Byakuya definitely looked..different, maybe he was a different person? Identity theft? Isn't that a crime?? Wait, but is it possible it might be his talent??? Why did he choose Byakuya????

"Are you done staring?"

He snapped you out of your trance, and you nod, "S-Sorry. Um, but...you probably already know my name, so," you shrugged and laughed nervously as he nodded, closing his open eye.

"While I'm not certain about what I think of this first impression, you don't seem like a bad person. I look forward to working with and/or living here with you. So long as you don't get in my way, or do anything careless," and with that, he crossed his arms again, not wiping the biscuit crumbs from his face as he looked away from you.

"Oh, uh....yeah, same," you didn't really know if he acknowledged you or not, but your answer was quiet anyway so if he didn't hear it, that made sense.

Something about this Byakuya doppelganger seemed...surprisingly nice, better than Byakuya from before. You have no idea what, seeing as he was still Byakuya.....right?

...Regardless, since this one's so different, maybe you should call him...Byakuya Twogami.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

"Oh, we're giving our introductions? Then, allow me to do so as well!" the robot spoke up, enthusiastically as he stared at you, "My name is K1-B0, but everyone just calls me by Kiibo. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Y/N!"

He gasped, then looked serious, "But, just so we are clear, and I have made this point to everyone here that I have conversed with so far, but--I would appreciate no belittling or derogatory comments being made towards me simply because I am a robot! It's robophobic, and I will not tolerate it, even if you are a female!" he pointed at you dramatically, and you blinked.

Then giggled, and used your own hand to lower his.

"I wasn't planning on being rude to you, though. I mean, yeah, I haven't said much yet, but, you're a robot! That's awesome! I've never seen a robot like you in real life before," you smiled at him and he seemed mildly shocked that you were praising him. Especially since you just met and haven't seen any of his more impressive functions.

"Like, movies, yeah, but in reality?? That's amazing, Kiibo! You're like...super advanced and fancy, you know? Is that just me??" you look at the other two. Byakuya didn't answer and Rantaro just chuckled.

"Well, yeah, you gotta admit--Kiibo's AI and overall design is pretty well-designed and functional," Rantaro commented, smiling at the robot boy kindly before sipping more of his tea. Kiibo seemed flustered, his cheeks lighting up a faint pink as he looked away, his robo-ahoge curling from shyness.

"Y-You really think so? I-I'm glad to hear that," he gulped, before smiling somewhat confidently and placing his hands on his hips.

"Maybe one of these days I will show you my more impressive and useful functions!"

"Sounds great, I look forward to it!" you smiled genuinely, and that seemed to make Kiibo feel even shyer as he hid his face with the empty platter next to him. Rantaro laughed softly.

"Looks like you have a new admirer, Kiibo."

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 4%**

Almost immediately after that, Lilian popped out of seemingly nowhere and hugged you from behind, "Ooooh, Y/N, you got to meet ten boys already! You're doing so well!!" she hugged you tightly and you squirmed.

"Hey, get off!" you wrangled yourself from her hug and looked at her. She was clasping her hands together and giggling proudly. Gosh, that was so irritating..

"Oh, wait, where did Bic Mac, Hajimeme, and Pooichi go?" she looked around for the three that you got separated from due to your lack of figuring out that walking and getting lost in thought at the same time probably wasn't a good idea.

"I got separated from them in this ridiculously large greenhouse. What else?" you leaned against the back of your chair, "You really should have multiple exits. Obvious ones. Or at least signs pointing to where you can find a path back to them."

Lilian nods, "Noted, noted, I admit I was in kind of a rush to describe this place while I was writing, didn't really think that one through. Well, I am excited to get this chapter out, soon, so that might just be a lack of patience on my part!"

"What?"

"What."

You stared at her with that signature look of skepticism and annoyance, and she laughed nervously before clearing her throat, "Well, anyway, if you needed help, you know that I did kinda put an application onto your phone that has maps for everywhere in the house's vicinity, right??"

Your phone? So THAT'S what's been vibrating against your thigh every time you finished talking to the boys at convenient intervals!

Getting it out and checking it, you gaped, "What the heck?! Where did all these notifications come from?! And, wait, you installed it on my phone?! Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

"WELL, GEE, Y/N! I needed a good excuse to shoehorn in Kiibo, Rantaro, and Byakuya's introductions! Not to mention Korekiyo's. This could have all been avoided if I did tell you, so it's good that you didn't know!" she flips some of her hair, the curls bouncing a bit as she looked to the side, "And besides. It was the only idea I had for exposition, and I wrote this far, so I don't want to turn back now and have to rewrite this whole section. Low quality or not, I'm too lazy for that!"

"What??"

"Nothing."

You sighed, looking through and clearing the notifications on your phone, and that was when you noticed that...when you got it out, it extended into a tiny tablet of some sort. You looked at it, flabbergasted, "Since when did I have enough money to afford...this???"

"Oh, she did that to all of our phones," Rantaro mentions, bringing out his own and showing you. Sure enough, it slid open, extending into the size of an iPad or so, "She's calling it a...what was it again?"

"It's like the E-Handbook--but for the Dating Game! ...so it's basically the same, just with a few different functions. I would call it something else, but I'm not that creative!" Lilian says as she turned away to apply lip balm or something.

"I....see. Well, it's pretty cool, I guess," you cleared the notifications and were now left at a lock-screen with a fingerprint identification function. Pressing your pointer finger to it for about 5 seconds, the screen displayed your name and then all of the tiny icons popped into existence with an admittedly adorable bubble-like effect.

"On there you can check the map, which will change to fit the place you are in as soon as you enter it. You can also check the amount of Love Fragments and the progress of your romancing when it comes to the boys! I know that's kinda weird, but it's a Dating Game. Gotta check progress somehow," Lilian was immediately by your side to explain, "Love Fragments, by the way, are my own little ways of keeping track of how much love you get from the boys! Some fragments are bigger than others and so some percents may get bigger depending on how they feel about you."

"How are you able to calculate exactly how they feel about me at the moment? Wouldn't it be mostly judged on their appearance rather than what they think?" you look at her, and she pursed her lips.

"Okay, well, forget the logic, it just works that way, okay?"

"I don't think that's a good excu--" "IT JUST WORKS THAT WAY OKAY??"

Lilian cleared her throat, "I didn't think that far ahead. Anyway, Love Fragments do have the possibility to be removed and hinder your progress if by any chance you, say, get into a fight with a boy. For example, I've set up my own demo run to show you how it works," she gave you her own E-Handbook, and on the screen currently was a tiny sprite of Lilian next to a large heart icon and a small meter below it that was at 0%.

"Say something nice to me!"

You stared at her, looking at the boys, and they just kind of shrugged. Well, Rantaro did, Byakuya didn't seem to care and Kiibo was still processing the photo, so he wasn't focusing much.

"Your hair is nice."

Immediately the heart glowed softly as a digital piece of...was that a gem? Or was it liquid? Dropped into the heart, and Lilian's sprite momentarily looked happy.

"Now say something mean."

"...your suit is tacky--" "HOW DARE YOU?! I like this color a lot!"

Immediately the little shard...drop...whatever, bursted, and the heart was empty as her sprite looked sad.

"So, depending on how hard the blow is, your relationships with the boys can be improved or taken down a notch! Be careful and considerate! Not that it'll guarantee that they'll fall for you regardless of how you act, because some of them are just like that."

It seemed that explanation went in one ear, out the other, because you just blankly stared at her as you closed to application and handed her E-Handbook back to her. She's....really hoping you'll cooperate with this game, huh? Jeez, who puts this much effort into what's essentially a real life dating simulator??

"Anyway, you wanted out, right? I'm here to guide you out, obviously because I know this place better than you would at first glance," she offered you her arm but you just slapped her away and got up. Not that she cared, she gave you a very obviously exaggerated moan of pleasure at your slap. You grimaced and she gave you a smug grin.

"I guess I'll see you guys later, then, or something," you waved to the three at the table as Lilian escorted you out, humming a familiar tune, what is that song? [Yes, what a mysterious song indeed.](https://youtu.be/emEg0zGS7KY)

Rantaro waved to you, watching clouds pass by overhead as Kiibo flinched.

"Wait, so does that mean I processed the picture for nothing--" but his words fell on deaf ears as you were simply guided out of the greenhouse.

Geez, what a wild place for a building where you raise plants.

* * *

"Y/N! Thank goodness, we were so worried about you!" Makoto ran up to you as you all met in the courtyard in front of the house again. He hugged you and you froze, but then he pulled away quickly, blushing a bright pink.

"S-Sorry! I got a little bit ahead of myself..." he scratched his cheek, laughing in embarrassment as you waved it off, a faint pink on your cheeks as well.

"It's fine, did you guys find the exit or something?" you asked.

"Actually, Lilian just kind of randomly appeared and basically kicked us out," Hajime explains, giving the woman in question a tired glance as she looked away, feigning innocence.

"What are you talking about? I was just trying to get you out since you were hopelessly lost! The story can't progress if the deuteragonists are just as lost as the protagonist is!" Not even giving you guys a word in, she coughed, looking away, "I'll try to make more exits and put some signs into the greenhouse while you guys are busy or something, but for now! Just continue meeting the others!"

She pushed you three opposite in the direction you started in, "After all, you haven't even met all the boys that are outside! And there's way more inside than there are outside, so go, go, goOOO--!" As you all came to a halt after being pushed into someone else, and then ended up falling in a pile, you were miraculously at the top with Lilian as your two out of three companions were now underneath you. Makoto seemingly managed to dodge with almost impossible luck, and he was just getting his shoe back on from stumbling away.

"Huh, so the girls really do get the better result when it comes to fall piles," Lilian observed, and you just stared at her tiredly.

Helping Hajime and Shuichi up, you caught sight of the newcomer, who was apologizing quietly yet profusely to Makoto as the smaller boy reassured him multiple times that it was an accident  ~~and also Lilian's fault in the long run.~~

"Hey, who's this?" you spoke up, walking over to the two.

This guy looked similar to Makoto, even his face kind of resembled Makoto, just a bit more mature. He turned to face you fully and laughed in embarrassment.

"Oh, dear, I guess I should've expected that you wouldn't have noticed me earlier. I was actually out in the courtyard when you met these three....I just didn't know if I should introduce myself," the white-haired boy with similar aesthetic tastes to Makoto said, running a hand through his hair before smiling calmly, "I guess it happened to be my own luck kicking in when I managed to see you guys this time. I was just finishing up eating dinner so everyone else could eat later without me bothering them."

You frowned, "Hey, come on. I don't even know you...yet, but you don't seem like a bad guy."

If only you could see Hajime signaling for you to maybe NOT associate with this dude. Poor Hajimeme, he's so desperate.

He blinked at you, then smiled almost sympathetically, "I'm flattered by your words, unusually. But, I guess that's to be expected of the Ultimate....actually, I don't know your talent yet. But, the very fact you're an Ultimate is enough for me to think so anyway," he said.

Lilian peeked at him from behind you, resting her head on yours, "Oh, I didn't see you when I brought her out here! Were you hiding or something?"

"You guys passed right by me, you just didn't see...I was sitting next to the entrance," he laughed nervously as Lilian got a hard-thinking expression on her face.

"...OH YEAH! I very, very vaguely remember you sitting by the door! Were you the one I accidentally smacked with it?"

"Y--Yes, my face is still kinda sore--" "Well, I mean, you got an ice pack, right? So it should be fine~!"

You stared at her, "How careless can you be with your own contestants?" you went to the guy, looking at his face. Having you up close, his breath seemed to hitch, and his face went pink, but you were busy looking to make sure there was no lasting bruise from how hard and exaggeratedly she threw the door open.

"Okay, well, there's no bad bruises as far as I can tell. Sorry, I didn't notice you either, or I would've definitely gotten you some ice and ibuprofen or whatever they have here," you looked at him sympathetically and he seemed touched, since he clenched his heart.

"You're too kind, Miss Y/N...I can see why you were picked to be the protagonist of this game..." he smiled, "But tell me, do you plan to try and charm everyone? As far as I can tell, none of the others have found a way to escape, so you might have to be stuck here with us all..."

You grimaced a bit, but straightened up, "Well, if that's the case then...we'll just cooperate until we're let out! We can't be kept here forever!"

"Are you still on about me having malicious intent? Listen, this is mostly because I want to see your talent and how it works! Seriously, would Hope's Peak be cooperating if this was a project with malicious intent? They're watching me, you know!" Lilian points to multiple cameras that you honestly can't see without squinting as they're at the very top corners of the dome covering this place. And...were those machine guns?

"They aren't gonna hesitate to take action if I try harming you! Scary," she gulped, before smiling, "Anyway, all of the other boys seem to be getting comfier, just go ahead and relax! I swear, honest to God, Buddha, whoever! I won't hurt you."

The boy chuckled, "I think she's being honest, personally. I mean, everyone at first was looking for an escape, and came back unsuccessful. Even me, and I'm kinda notorious for my ridiculous luck," he states, continuing, "Now everyone's just kind of accepting it and starting to settle down, so....maybe we're fine, Y/N. We can't go home, but, it's not like this place is awful."

"Everyone? Even you three?" You look at Makoto, Hajime, and Shuichi, who tensed. Lilian grinned smugly.

"They were actually enjoying the greenhouse before I kicked them out--I mean, led them back outside. I think you guys wouldn't really mind staying here, if not for the house."

You pouted, "....well, we'll see at the end of the day. If there's no revolt by tomorrow, then you win!"

"Bold of you to assume I haven't already won!" Lilian laughed dramatically, before randomly poofing away, that familiar pink dust appearing and being swept away by the breeze once more. Lamest ninja in the history of lame ninjas.

"While I totally get your concern, something tells me that this situation isn't really dangerous unless we make it dangerous. And as far as I can tell, no one's really tried to. At least, as far as I know, Lilian might take care of anyone who's trying, so," he shrugged, ignoring the shouts and girly screams as Lilian chased some kid holding a huge water gun in the background.

"Anyway, I should probably stop rambling and just tell you my name. If you care to know, that is," he says and you just sigh in defeat.

"Yeah, I guess," you shrug as he chuckled.

"I'm Nagito Komaeda, nice to meet you, Miss Y/N."

He didn't hold his hand out and you didn't feel like shaking hands right now, so after that, you just nod.

There was an awkward silence before Hajime pulled you and your two companions away from Nagito, who just stared.

"Okay, yeah, bye Nagito."

This snapped the boy out of his trance, and he held up a hand in an idle wave, before said hand raised to touch his cheek. He panted softly as a blush rose on his face again, "Ohh...she was so soft. Is this her Talent, or was it her genuine concern for my wellbeing..?"

Nagito giggled to himself, holding his face as a lovestruck expression took place on his features, "I feel so giddy now, after meeting her....could this be something...special? Or is it just my silly admiration..?"

He paused, a blank expression spreading out across his features.

"...probably just admiration, haha. No way someone like me deserves someone like her."

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 5%**

* * *

"Y/N, are you okay? You've been quiet since we talked to Nagito.." Makoto walked up to you, leaving Hajime and Shuichi to talk to each other a bit since they had no idea what else to do besides walking.

"...is the whole thing about us feeling fine staying here making you uneasy..?" the boy looked concerned, worry adorning his features. You crossed your arms.

"...kind of, but that's not really it," you look away, "In reality...."

You then bit your thumb nail, grimacing and growling, "I don't want to admit to a weirdo like her that she's winning me over with something as stupid as a...a....a nice place to stay," you pouted, wiping your thumb off on your shirt, "Of all the things I planned to do today, one of them was NOT admitting that her set up was appealing."

"That's your concern now?!"

Makoto cleared his throat, "B-But, I can kinda see why that'd be embarrassing, I guess. I mean, you were pretty adamant about not staying here, after all. But, it does seem like she plans on caring for us, so at least she won't like, let us be unsupervised or not cared for, you know?"

He looks up, "I didn't want to admit that I wanted to stay more and more, either, but at the end of the day, that's what I thought..." he laughed nervously, "It did take a bit though, because at first, I really was set on escaping, like you."

You pause, still walking towards your next destination. Wherever that was. All you know now is that you were behind the house or something. Man, there was a lot of open space around here.

"...so, you don't think anything bad'll happen to us if we stay here? You really think so?" you look at him with uncertainty, looking for any sign of reassurance. Sure enough, you found it, in his surprisingly warm and comforting smile.

"I mean, I can't say for sure, but really, has anything super bad happened yet? By now, I would think that someone woulda lashed out and caused a ruckus. But no one seems to have done anything. I think that, as long as we're careful, we can rest easy for now. Not saying that we don't  _have_ to look around or anything, but I don't think we should stress over it much. Unless something bad happens, I think we'll be fine!"

He put a hand on your shoulder, "As long as there's no despair in the air, we'll be fine!"

You looked at him, stopping for a moment, before smiling, "Thanks, Makoto."

You chuckled a bit, "You've definitely been the most optimistic of us four so far. That's really sweet of you to try and be like our positivity rock."

He blushed, rubbing the back of his head shyly, "I-It's nothing. I know that this situation, safe or not, can be stressful. S-So, as long as you need it, I'll try to be optimistic! If not for myself, then for everyone."

You giggled, "You're pretty sweet, doing that. Thanks, again, Makoto."

You both laughed together for a bit until Hajime and Shuichi caught up, and then the four of you moved on.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 5%**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this will either have another part or like 2 other parts my brain is now mush and i can write no longer  
> i hope this lengthy-ish chapter satisfied your needs of boys and stuff g'byeeee


	3. Late Night Update!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just an update about the story is all

Okay, I may or may not have been lazing off because of the friggin holidays bUT starting tomorrow (Hopefully) I am going to be working on the next chapter, and afterwards, since the introductory chapters will ~~probably~~ be over, I'm gonna be starting to take requests/suggestions/whatever regarding which boy (or boys) you guys want Y/N to hang out with next chapter!

No, I have not thought through any rules yet, all I know is that it'd be preferable to not keep requesting the same boy over and over for chapter after chapter.

Anyway if you stalked me and read my replies to comments you'd know that alongside request based and most likely romantic plot chapters, I will be writing other chapters myself, whether it focus on a small plotline, new aspect of the house, or just me wanting to write for a particular boy that wasn't requested a lot.

So yeah, now would be a good time to maybe write down any boy(s) you'd wanna see written for after the latest chapter is actually done, because afterwards I'll need material besides the limited scenarios I have in my head. Anyway that's all, have a nice night (or day) and I hope Christmas/your holidays/your day was good!

-Vi


	4. Meeting New Friends! ...again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same deal as last chapter, same deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tis the day before Christmas Eve...  
> Actually this might be posted after today, haha (spoiler: it was.)
> 
> These chapters take a long time especially if you want to introduce 24 different characters in like 10k words, I guess.
> 
> So, as personal notes, we've gotten  
> The 3 Protagonists  
> Nagito  
> Korekiyo  
> Gonta  
> Hiro  
> Rantaro  
> Kiibo  
> Byakuya  
> "Byakuya" (Imposter)  
> and Hifumi (although he's not a romantic option)
> 
> ...so 12 boys skjjsjk  
> So we got 12 more to go.

Continuing on to the last facility that was outside, you three ended up at the warehouse and garage.

They both were built side-by-side but you guys headed to the warehouse first, after a short but hearty game of rock paper scissors.

~~Though the guys may or may not have let you win because you were adorably adamant about it.~~

In you went, then, into the warehouse of wonders. Inside, it was massive! And there was a lot of items on each of the shelves, though that might be expected of a warehouse. Was this gonna be accommodation for the lack of an actual supermarket? In the far back you're pretty sure you even saw fridges and freezers for things that needed to be kept inside of them.

"Do you think they have any video games here..? I mean, if she expects us to get comfortable.." you look around. Makoto's talk from earlier seemed to have calmed your nerves, if not just for a moment. Maybe it was his own enthusiasm and kindness but it made it seem like things really would be okay.

"I would think so, although, I think this warehouse might be more for necessities than luxuries," Hajime says, walking up next to you.

"I see," you hum, "....well, let's go look around the place!" and with that, you waved them over in your direction as you began to walk off in a random one. The three follow you, Makoto laughing quietly at your newfound enthusiasm, and Shuichi and Hajime just smiling a little.

The four of you scoured the aisles of the warehouse, taking in its structure and general size. A few times you stopped to go and look at a few products. Although most of them were indeed foods and other supplies, there were also miscellaneous things. Movies, decorations, furniture, and even video games.

At some point you actually found a game from your childhood, and gasped and ran to it without thinking. Makoto and Shuichi were looking at some picture frames and clocks, while Hajime noticed you suddenly run away and ran after you.

"H-Hey, Y/N! W-What was that about--woah..." he seemed just as in awe at the game as you did and you felt your heart nearly burst with happiness.

"You know this game??" you smiled at him joyfully, "I barely knew anyone who did! Most of them were on the internet, anyway!"

Hajime nodded just as enthusiastically, smiling at you, "Yeah, I loved this game! I had no idea that it was still around or that anyone knew it," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, "I-I used to play it like, religiously, it was nuts. I got to the point where I could play almost every level pretty flawlessly."

"Oh, same, although to be fair, the stages were pretty formulaic in some aspects. But still, I loved this game. It made up like....90% of my childhood. After being introduced to video games anyway," you laughed, and he agreed.

"Wow, that's like....one of the first times something like this has happened to me. Like, for childhood games that is. I'm pretty used to people knowing mainstream games I like," he laughed nervously.

"Oh, same! Again!" you laugh, genuinely happy, "But that's nice! I'm glad to find someone I have something in common with, that's like, not what memes I'm into at the time."

Hajime laughs himself, and it's probably the most emotional he's gotten since he got here. Seems like he was also a bit hesitant about relaxing. The more easygoing the guys get, the more relaxed you're feeling.

Although you still kinda hate to admit it, this place was starting to seem more and more appealing as a place to stay.

"Y-You know, so, did you watch...uh, you know," Hajime named off a pretty nostalgic movie as well and you squealed, clapping excitedly for a bit.

"Yeah, yeah! Gosh, I loved that movie, but, none of my friends really liked it like I did!" "Same!"

The two of you laughed a bit more, before calming down. 

"...h--hey, one of these days, you think you'd...wanna watch the movie again and..play the game together?" Hajime asks you, quietly as he turns away to blush a bit.

"Uh, totally, dude! I mean, not like we'll be leaving anytime soon--sounds fun!" you playfully punch his arm and laugh as he laughs too, albeit more awkwardly.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 4%**

"Hey, what's all the ruckus over here, you two?" Makoto cheerfully strides up to you two with Shuichi in tow.

"Not much, just nostalgia trips," you explain, and before anyone else could talk you guys heard an exclamation of joy from somewhere else in the warehouse.

Looking at each other, you made your way to the end of the current aisle, and since the cheering and awe was coming from a few aisles down, you guys raced there, only to find a large, seemingly well-built and mildly intimidating man cheerfully checking out all of the workout equipment.

"They even have workout equipment here?! And boxing gloves! Man, this pleases me a whole bunch! Shit!" he laughed heartily, and this guy's spirit was extremely infectious, since you giggled a bit.

Although not shortly after, he noticed you guys and gave you all a joyful smile, walking up to you, "Oh, sorry for all the yelling, I had no idea anyone else was in here right now!" he laughed, "It's a lot bigger than it looks from the outside, huh? Imagine the commotion if the guys actually came here all at once.."

You snickered, "At least it'd make it seem a bit less abandoned than K-Mart."

At that, he paused, then began to laugh more as you laughed with him. Makoto and the other two also laughed, albeit mostly because you guys' laughs were super contagious.

"What's your name, by the way? I'm Y/N, even if you already knew that," you held a hand up to him as he calmed down, and looked at said hand, before taking it and giving it an enthusiastic shake that honestly kinda shook your arm.

"Name's Nekomaru Nidai! Nice to meet you, little lady!" he said with a chuckle, letting go as you felt your arm shake a bit. Wow, he was strong.

But friendly.

"Nice to meet you too," you laughed, this time a bit nervously, but you still gave him a friendly smile, "So, you work out, I'm guessing?"

"Oh yeah, a ton," he smirked, "It keeps the body fresh and ready, you know?"

"Ah, yeah, if only I had the motivation to work out more."

You laughed nervously again as he blinked, then roughly patted your back with another hearty laugh. You swore you saw the three boys behind you reach out as if to catch you if you fell.

"Well, I can totally help you with that!" He pointed to himself with a thumb, "Just come to me and I'll workout with ya anytime, got it?!"

You were a bit flabbergasted at his enthusiasm and...volume, but you nodded with a bright smile. His happiness was contagious.

"Yeah, sure!"

This dude was supposed to be a contestant, right? Really...you felt more as if he could be like a father figure rather than a potential boyfriend. Maybe Lilian would let you two just be buddies.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

* * *

You all waved goodbye to Nekomaru not long after and then went to a small door at the far left side of the warehouse. The sign said it was the garage, so this must be where the place splits off to go to said garage.

Entering the door, you all gaped a little as you saw what was in the garage.

Although you doubt they'll ever be used, there were a ton of trucks, cars, and motorcycles--basically, a ton of vehicles. Also, there was a large work area in the garage, with tools of all kinds organized neatly.

You admittedly didn't care much for garages in general, but you found this one to be pretty impressive.

"Ah, and this model's impressive too!" a voice spoke from the back of the place.

Looking back there, you blinked when Hajime seemed to recognize the voice and react.

"Kazuichi, what're you doing?"

"Kazuichi" made a yelp of surprise, and you heard a small bang, and winced. Afterwards you heard him grumble and whimper in pain, but his footsteps eventually got closer.

In came some dude in a yellow...neon yellow? well, a yellow jumpsuit, a gray beanie, and the most vibrant choice of hair color you've seen here thus far besides maybe Kiibo. His eyes were sharp but judging by the tiny tears in his eyes and the small grumbles of pain as he rubs the spot on his head he presumably hit, he was anything but a scary dude.

"I was checkin' out all the stuff they have in here, what else?" He pouts at Hajime, "Well, I was, til' you scared the shit outta me! Happened twice already, the first was when Nekomaru burst in.." he sighed, "And then I thought I was alone--and I was for a while--til' you lot showed up.." wow his teeth were sharp.

"S-Sorry about that. We had no idea anyone else was in here, you know?" Makoto reasoned.

"That's kinda how it was with everywhere else we've been so far. The only place I would've expected someone to be in would have been the house itself," Shuichi says, sounding a bit matter-of-factly.

Kazuichi just rolled his eyes until he saw you. Then almost immediately his demeanor changed as he scrambled to fix his beanie and his jumpsuit, "W-Who's this? Is this Y/N?" he asks, laughing nervously, "Gosh, you--uh, were there the whole time, huh?"

You stare at him, then nod, "Yeeeah, I dunno why I wouldn't have been?"

Kazuichi just laughed anxiously again, before clearing his throat, "W-Well, if it was just you three, I woulda scolded you a lot more. But since I'm in the presence of a lovely woman such as yourself, I'll let it slide. Don't wanna scare you off!" he said with a proud smile. You already felt awkward.

"Anyway, time for introductions, I guess! Name's Kazuichi Souda! Nice to meetcha!" he held out a hand for you. You took it casually despite his somewhat awkward first impression, and this seemed to surprise him a whole lot.

"Nice to meet you, too," it feels weird to be recognized by a ton of different people, "So, what were you looking at before we interrupted?"

Kazuichi was in a small trance, looking at his hand as you let go before jumping, "Uhhh, well--ya see, a big hobby of mine is...taking things apart and puttin' em back together, right? But I also just in general like impressive models like some of the cars and trucks they have here! So I was just admirin' 'em a bit before I, y'know...asked if I could look at 'em a bit more in depth!" He says, his eyes sparkling cutely.

You smiled a little, "That's neat. You seem to really be into this stuff, huh?"

He blinked, blushing a bit as he laughed shyly, "Y--Yeah, I used to help a lot with a bike shop my folks owned. I-It was mostly me that did the work but--w-well, I don't wanna bother you with my backstory."

You tilted your head a bit, looking at the other guys, who just shrugged. Well, except for Hajime, who gave Kaz a somewhat sympathetic look.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 6%**

"W-Well, anyway, uh, I'm prolly gonna head into the house now. SInce, I'm getting hungry, and it's getting dark and...eeeeven if she says this place is safe at night, we don't...r-really know, right?" Kaz says, smiling a bit nervously.

"Well, that's true," Shuichi says, "Maybe we should all head back. Dinner might be ready too."

And so the five of you walked back to the house. Talking about various things, although at some point you kinda noticed Shuichi was lagging behind.

Doing the same after the three got distracted laughing, you went over to him.

"Hey, Shuu, what's up?"

He blushed a bright pink at your nickname and your concern, "Nothing much, but...I dunno. I guess I just kinda haven't done much, or helped people try to find an escape when everyone was panicking, so.." he shrugs, "I'm starting to mellow down. But that kinda comes with me feeling like maybe I should distance myself."

He laughed dryly, "I didn't do much when everyone was trying to be helpful, so I'm probably not gonna contribute much to the daily life either, you know? I'd probably a bit bothersome."

"Heyyy," you slap him on the back gently and accidentally cause him to stumble forward, but you put an arm around his shoulder and he jumps at the close contact.

"You're not a bother, Shuichi! I mean, we haven't gotten to bond yet, but everyone was focused on a ton of stuff today, you know? And then their focus suddenly shifts and no one's panicking--and now they're just kinda trying to adjust, you know?" you smile, "I was considering still fighting through to find someway out, too, but...you know, this place is stupidly appealing."

"Maybe it's the whole dating sim style or whatever, but I could get used to it," you laughed a bit, "If we weren't forced to come here, I think it woulda been nice right off the bat."

Shuichi nods, "That is true...you have a point."

"Yeah, see? This isn't a situation where you have to struggle to survive, you just gotta relax. I-I guess, I dunno, I mean...at this point that's kinda what's popping up in my mind, seeing as there's not really much else to do, so?" you shrug.

"True. I guess it is just...a place to stay. That's really all," he smiled, "I guess I'll try to take it easy then."

"I'll try to do that alongside you, don't worry," you laugh, then get an unamused expression on your face, "I mean, I'm succumbing to this place's charms and positive points more than the negative ones, so..as long as no one dies, I think we're fine! Although I hate that I'm admitting I like the place Lilian set up for us juuuuust a bit."

Shuichi laughed softly and you laughed along with him, before hearing Kazuichi call for you in slight annoyance. So the two of you picked up the pace and caught up with them in short time.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 5%**

* * *

Making your way into the house once more, you got a good look at the entrance hall. It had a nice, crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and an archway with two stairwells that went up pretty high.

Further in, there was a hall that lead to a big door at the end of it. There were also a few doors to the sides, it looked like. But ultimately, there was probably more stuff upstairs than downstairs, you thought.

"That big place must be the kitchen, so, let's go!" Kazuichi said, already way ahead of you all.

"Actually, I think I'm just gonna go do something else for a bit, I'm tired from all this walking around," Shuichi says, smiling a bit regretfully.

"You sure?" you look at him as he goes to the stairs. The boy nods at you as he began to go up slowly.

"I'm going to find my room and relax for a bit, I'll be down for dinner, though," he says, "I'm just...tired," he says.

"Alright, see you later, Shuu," you waved to him, not noticing the blush that arose to his face as you said so. Though, then Makoto also split up from you and Hajime, looking at you with a small apologetic smile.

"I'm going to go too. I want to find the others a bit earlier, and make sure that everything's okay. Things can get a biiiit chaotic with some of those guys, and I've been told I'm a good peacemaker, so.." he laughed nervously, "This place is a bit easier to moderate."

"Sounds good, 'eggi! See you later at dinner, then," you wave him off and he blushes and laughs nervously at your nickname, before going upstairs, only in the opposite direction Shuichi went.

"Guess it's just us," you say to Hajime.

"Well, I guess that might be good. I couldn't handle being alone in a house full of these guys," he says with a sigh as you laugh softly, making your way into the dining room. Er, dining hall.

This place was ginormous, Kazuichi was sitting at one of the island stools, spinning around in wonder, "This place is sick! Look at the lights! And decorations!"

"I'm going to assume that the door in the back goes to the kitchen," you said, only stopping to sniff at a wonderfully delicious smell that entered your line of sniffing.

"Woooooow, okay, whoever's cooking, I definitely need to see what's on the menu," you walked towards the kitchen with Hajime in tow, leaving Kazuichi to his dining hall antics. Hopefully he wouldn't break a plate.

Going into the kitchen, it was just as large and impressive and definitely seemed like a professionally made kitchen. Well, it was being funded by one of the biggest and most famous schools ever, so..

In the center of the place, albeit kind of hidden by the large array of food on the counter in the middle of the room, you navigated your way to see a short and stout figure put something into the oven.

"Whatcha makin?"

He squeaked and nearly hit his head on the oven, but managed to get himself out and close it, huffing a bit, "Now, come on, don't startle a chef when he's putting something in the oven! I almost got burnt!"

You winced, "Sorry."

"Hey, uh, Y/N, just as a warning, be a bit cautious around this guy. He's a bit...wild," Hajime whispers to you as the chef dusts his hat off and fixes his hair.

You blinked. This dude? He seemed pretty tame to you. But, shrugging, you just made sure to be careful.

"Now then, that was a bit of a rude introduction--so allow myself to actually introduce myself correctly this time~" the chef bowed, looking up at you with what you took as a flirty gaze, "My name is Teruteru Hanamura. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Y/N~" he took your hand and gave it a small kiss on the top.

You blinked, then pulled your hand away mostly out of fluster, "Um, thanks. Nice to meet you, too, Teruteru," you answered with a small smile. You honestly had no idea how to feel about him, but you pressed on, "Your food smells heavenly, uh--is dinner almost ready, by any chance?"

He seemed pleased by your compliment--genuinely pleased, not flirtingly--as he giggled a little cutely, "Why, yes it is~! I haven't gotten to go all out with my cooking in such a long time, especially not for this many people," he puffs his chest out proudly, hands on his hips.

"It's my job to make a delicious dinner for everyone to enjoy, you know? Cooking is a passion, and a big part of my life," he explains to you, smiling, "I sincerely hope people will be able to enjoy my food~"

You smiled warmly, "That's really nice of you. I never really learned how to cook, much less for this many people...you're impressive, you know? Must be hard work."

Teruteru blushed, chuckling shyly, "Well, it's really nothing~" he then smirked, looking at you, "Although, you're impressive, too. In more ways than one~" he purred, and you instantly got why Hajime might want you to be careful around him.

Well, he did seem genuine if not a bit flirty. You don't think he's too bad, but you'll still be sure not to feed too much into that perverseness of his that peeked out a bit at you.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 5%**

* * *

After leaving Teruteru and reuniting with Kazuichi--sorry--Kazuichi following you and Hajime after you tried to leave him in the dining hall by himself (you didn't think he'd want to come with you guys but I guess he does.)

You all decided to go upstairs to look around a bit. Although, at the moment, most of the doors upstairs seemed to be locked or at least off limits, since Monokuma would pop up like an annoying scam ad to shout at you "No, no, no! You can't go in yet!"

So you all caved in and went to the library, which was big, but not as big as the dining room, which came as a surprise to you. Although, the house's upstairs did seem to be going through a lot of remodeling given the doors, so maybe Lilian was just accommodating while she worked on other stuff. Kazuichi and Hajime went to talk about something, probably reminiscing about school as they were laughing and talking about books, quietly.

You hummed, not really knowing why they were being quiet apart from the fact it's like a vocal reflex in a library, but you shrugged it off and went to look around, looking through the different shelves and briefly reading some books you thought looked interesting.

After coming out of them, you were at some of the library computers. Oh, someone was using them.

.....wait, was that a girl?!

Getting curious and excited, you rushed over to the person, "Excuse me."

They gasped, and turned to you in shock. Oh, they looked like a girl..

"I-I'm sorry. Uhm, do you need anything?"

...but their voice kinda spoke otherwise for you. Literally.

"O-Oh, sorry. I just kinda...got a bit...you know," you motioned to their outfit, and they gasped.

"Oh, I see," they laugh nervously, running a hand through their hair as they shuffled shyly, "Well, t-the skirt kinda...gets to everyone, even though I'm trying to change up my wardrobe a bit."

You flinched, "N-No, no! It's fine, you're fine. I mean, I just got kinda..surprised, is all," you admit, laughing nervously, "So, you're a boy then? Or..."

They nodded, "Yeah. I mean, I look feminine, but...I really don't want to? At least, not anymore. At some point I did, but...it was due to personal reasons, and I've grown past that thanks to help from friends," they laugh anxiously, "So, I've been trying to, you know, separate from that part of me. But, uh, it's a slow process, you know?"

Your expression softened as you looked at them sympathetically, "Ah, I see..." but, not wanting to be rude, you cleared your throat, "So, does that mean...you'd rather me call you a boy? If you'd prefer not to be seen as feminine, then.."

They paused, thinking, "...well, I'm either good with he or they. He is preferred, since I want to be seen as more masculine, so.."

You nodded, "Alright! I just wanted to clarify that- you know how things can get pretty awkward," you trailed off, laughing a bit nervously as he did the same, nodding.

"O-Oh, that's, um, that's right--I didn't introduce myself, did I? ...u-um, I-I'm Chihiro Fujisaki. It's nice to meet you, Y/N," the boy did a small bow, before clasping his hands in front of him.

"Nice to meet you, Chihiro! What were you working on over here? Seemed like you were really focusing on it."

"O-OH, just a little program of mine--I call it Alter Ego. I-I thought it might be nice and useful for us here...once I get it completely set up, that is," he laughs nervously.

"Ohh, that sounds super cool! Isn't Alter Ego like a supposedly super advanced AI that only rich people can really afford?" you asked, curious.

"Y-Yeah. I-I actually wanted to make it available t-to everybody, but, they advised against it, so I just went with what they said to do.."

"..I....wait, are...you the creator of Alter Ego?"

Chihiro jumped, then blushed brightly, "U-Um, yes. I-I am, t-the original programmer, that is. Why?"

You clapped excitedly, "It's just--wow! Alter Ego, from what I've seen, is just...an amazing program! I really think it's cool and would definitely love to have my own Alter Ego......once I save up, that is."

Chihiro looked a bit surprised, but smiled at you, "M-Maybe one of these days...I can program you one!"

You smiled excitedly and he giggled.

"That'd be really cool! Only if you didn't mind, though."

"N-Not at all! It'd be really nice to see how our Alter Egos interact, really, haha."

"Oh, yeah, it would be!"

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 2%**

* * *

Saying goodbye lead to you exiting the library. The two boys didn't end up following you but you didn't really think that was much of a big deal. Well, you hoped.

Walking around, you accidentally bumped into someone as you rounded a corner, causing you both to stumble back.

"Hey, watch it!" you said, although instantly felt kinda bad after you said that since you were kiiiiind of the one who bumped into the guy, not the other way around.

"Me? You're the one who bumped into me!" he retorted.

Although his demeanor seemingly softened when he noticed you were a girl and NOT one of the guys, he still crossed his arms as you frowned, sighing and rubbing the back of your head, "...alright, sorry. I was kinda lost in thought. I'm just thinking about stuff."

"Stuff? What kinda stuff?" his curiosity got the best of him as he looked at you inquisitively.

You took a small moment to look at this boy. His hair was a fiery red, and his eyes were a bright sky blue. His outfit was mostly white except for his jeans, and his shirt, which had some sort of red-orange insignia on it. Also, he had tons of piercings, including one on his chin just above where his goatee started.

Breaking yourself out of observation mode, you cleared your throat, "About what it'd be like to....you know, live here for who knows how long. This place isn't as hostile as I originally thought, but...it's still a weird thought, you know?"

He scoffed, running a hand through his hair, "Tell me about it. I'm having mixed feelings on this place. I mean, I don't like some of the dudes here, can barely stand seein' 'em at school. So having to share a house with them for god knows how long?" he crossed his arms, "Nightmarish, man."

You chuckled, "I've only just met some of them, but I guess I can get that feeling," you held a hand out to him.

"But, we can try to get along a bit, right?" you smiled, "I'm Y/N, if you didn't already know, nice to meet you."

The boy looked at your hand, then grinned and shook it with a comparable amount of vigor compared to when you first bumped into him.

"Leon Kuwata, nice to meet you too!" he chuckled, "You know, now that I'm not annoyed at you for going all lost in thought on me...you're pretty cute~"

But before you could respond in any way to his flirty remark, he walked past you, "Hey, sorry to cut this short, but I'm lookin' for something in the house right now, so I can't stay to talk! But hey, next time, lets hang out!"

He turned to you and winked, "I know how to play a mean guitar solo."

And with that, he ran off and you blinked, but chuckled a bit at the small trace of enthusiasm that shone on his face when talking to you. He didn't seem like a bad guy, maybe you'd take up his offer sometime.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 2%**

With that, you turned to continue your journey through the halls once more.

Well, that was what you TRIED to do, until you saw someone else come from a door. From that direction, you heard faint yelling and commotion, and with concern on your features, went to the boy who just exited the room.

"Hey, what's going on in there?"

The boy, shorter than you with a checkerboard scarf, looked at you with...honestly, you felt it was kind of exaggerated, but you didn't know why. His expression was concerned as he grabbed your hands suddenly.

"You're Miss Y/N, right?! Please, come quickly, they're fighting in the living room and I can't stop them!"

Fighting?!

Determination settling on your face, you nod, "Alright, then, take me in. I dunno who's fighting or why but I'll definitely get to the bottom of it."

The boy giggled, an admittedly cute giggle, "Oh, wow! You're really brave. Braver than me, that's for sure~!"

Yeah, something was off about him.

No matter, you and the boy entered through the two somewhat large doors together, and what you saw was....wild.

In the middle of two burlier looking boys--one with a pompadour, the other with purple hair that was definitely gelled in a stupid way--giving each other angry glares and occasionally yelling something at each other that was either a threat, a curse word or a string of them was Makoto, but also another boy. He didn't look as buff or anything, but he was still well-built.

He was wearing a peculiar outfit--it was supposedly a school uniform, but honestly looked more like something out of the military--but that didn't catch your eye as much as his eyebrows did.

The person standing farther to the right, behind a couch with his arms crossed, though, probably took the cake for interesting appearances in here, really. Where to start...his outfit was wild, looking like an attempt at being somewhat intimidating, yet cool. The scarf was the most noticeable thing besides his seemingly bandaged arm. You couldn't tell from this angle what he had on that arm, really. His face was visibly in a scowl, probably from annoyance due to this fight.

His hair also reminded you of ice cream or chocolate mousse, but since the two were getting rowdier, you put that aside for now.

Leaving the small boy alone, you rushed up to the three, "Okay, please do tell...what the heck is going on here?!" you asked Makoto as the eyebrow-bearing boy seemed a bit too focused on shouting at the two fighters to try and stop them from...well, fighting.

"I-I don't really know myself, apparently Kaito did something to Mondo?"

He seemed to forget you didn't know them, but from where his gaze went, Mondo was the pompadour one, so Kaito was the one with the ridiculous amount of hair gel.

"He fucking called me a weakling, that's what! Said I was useless or some shit because I'm supposed to be a biker, but I'm too weak to punch us through the dome, or some stupid shit like that! When god knows that he'd have just as many broken bones as I would if he tried that!" Mondo spoke, sneering at Kaito who shouted at him that the statement wasn't true.

"No way! You said that  _I_ was an idiot because if I was smart like an astronaut "is supposed to be," I coulda gotten us outta here in no problem! Which is not true! Shuichi's a detective, does that mean he could find us a way out of here just because he's smart?!"

"Maybe that just proves that you both really ARE fucking dumbasses!"

"At least he's more use to us than a HALL MONITOR!"

"You fucking--I'LL PUMMEL THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!"

"NOT IF I DO FIRST!!"

You were progressively getting more annoyed, and seemingly, the two boys holding them back from destroying the entire living room seemed to be sharing your thoughts.

"Ladies, you're both beautiful, but can you shut up so we can talk this out?"

"NO!"

They simultaneously shouted to you, and you groaned in exasperation.

"Calming these two down is similar to trying to get Charybdis and Scylla to stop their incessant battling--you three are about as helpless as the boats who cross their paths, getting beaten around relentlessly by the waves," the boy behind the couch spoke up finally. WOW his voice is...deep.

"I don't think it's  _that_ serious. Listen, did you guys tell each other this?"

The two paused, still angry, but simply staring at you for a bit.

"...no." "...nope."

"Okay, then, did someone tell you this?" you asked.

"...yeah." they said simultaneously.

"Okay, then, wouldn't the solution be--instead of believing this person--telling each other who told you that, instead of instantly believing that they were telling the truth and getting mad about it?" you sighed in annoyance, "Common sense, you guys do not have it. If someone tells you something, sometimes it's better to maybe try and see if that was true before automatically assuming something bad about someone else."

Well, you guys were all still pretty young. Drama and stuff wasn't too uncommon, either, but still.

The boy in the uniform seemed as shocked as the other two, but straightened up with a bright smile.

"Exactly what I was thinking! Well, I didn't know that they were told that by someone, but, honestly, I had my suspicions!" he said with a small laugh, before crossing his arms, "So, I think you both know what to do."

They looked at each other, and you crossed your arms.

"...well?"

"....it was--HEY, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" pompadour man cut himself off as he saw someone try to make a run for it from the loveseat next to the fireplace. Going over at a nigh-scary speed, he held the presumed culprit by the scarf.

...it was the same boy who brought you into the fight in the first place!

He gave a smug yet nervous smile as he waved, "Ahaha, hiiii~!"

"You were the little shit that told me he said that, weren't you?!" he asked, glaring daggers at the smaller boy as he flinched, but still smiled.

"Yeah, so what? I just wanted to stir up a bit of DRAMA in this place, you know?? It's boring here, nothing exciting is happening yet.."

Kaito rolled his sleeves up, looking like he was going to punch the kid until uniform-brow boy held him back, "You little...you totally used this situation against me! I wasn't thinking!"

"And who's fault is thaaaat?" the kid asked, "Not my fault you have literal peas for brains, you two~"

But before a fight could break out, Makoto, uniform guy, and yourself restrained the three and sat them down firmly on the couch, not letting any of them stand until everything was actually calm. Tension was still there, but it wasn't so thick you had to cut it with a huge knife.

.....

"...so, you said those things to these two, because they were still apprehensive about living here--and you thought it'd be a good idea to stir up some drama before things became "boring" around here because everyone would be living normally?"

You asked as the small boy stared at you with dark purple eyes.

"...yep!"

".....ohhhh, go suck on a rock!" you said in one of the most passive-aggressive tones you've heard yourself speak today, "Seriously, everyone's starting to settle down and become comfortable with the situation, doing that just to make things tense and, you know, POTENTIALLY DEADLY by stirring up negativity?"

You sighed, facepalming, "Are you an idiot..?"

"Yep~!" he smiled cheekily and although he looked mildly adorable, you huffed.

"Please apologize to them. Listen, I know you mighta been projecting your own discomfort onto them or something, but...we'll be fine, I think," you say softly, "Making everyone go into a panic won't get us out any faster than if we just went with the game. So either way, we'd be stuck here unless something super sketchy happens and they boot us and Lilian out of here. Okay?"

He pouted, "....okay, I'll do it this once since you were nice enough to genuinely wanna help me~"

* * *

After the three apologized, you introduced yourself. It was a quick intro, but it went over smoothly.

Mondo was the pompadork, who got really tense and blushy around you while you two talked. Though apart from having a temper, he seemed cute and nice!

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 4%**

The next boy you talked to was apparently his friend, Ishimaru. He was loud but he seemed like he had a good heart. When you told him that, he blushed bright red, but thanked you.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 2%**

Next introduction was Kaito. He seemed super enthusiastic and glad to meet you. He made you smile a bit with his utter energy. Apparently he wants to go to space. Ambitious!

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 3%**

The next boy was the guy who orchestrated all of this, Kokichi. His personality was a bit hard to grasp, and it made you mildly frustrated. Building a relationship might take a while..

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

Finally, there was the scarf dude, Gundham Tanaka. He was pretty quiet and the intro itself was mildly awkward as he talked in a way that is not easy to grasp, but maybe he'll open up a bit more. He seemed shy around you. Huh..

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

* * *

Not long after you and Makoto left, it was dinnertime. So, everyone (minus Nagito and two others apparently, as two chairs were empty) got together to eat under Monokuma's watchful eye.

Then you were excused to your rooms for the night.

On your way to the hall where everything first began, you blinked as you spotted two boys. Both of them just coming out of their rooms, although they stopped when they saw each other, and one of them scoffed quietly and walked away.

That was when he noticed you.

This boy was also shorter than you--he was Kokichi's height or so. He had a bit of a babyface, but something told you if you said so that you'd be killed for saying such a blasphemous thing. His suit was nice and neat, you quite liked the style of it--gave off a sort of neatly tough look along with his golden eyes and dusty blonde hair.

"...hey, what're you staring at?" he spoke up and you blipped into existence, having apparently zoned out.

"Oh, uh, sorry--I just didn't see you at dinner, so.." you laughed awkwardly, "I had no idea who else was here. It couldn't have been Monokuma and Lilian so--"

He held his hand up, "Alright, whatever. You don't have to explain yourself to me," he shrugs, moving past you, "I'll be cool with you as long as you leave me the hell alone, aight?" he looked back at you with a small scowl and you momentarily wonder if your tendency to creepily observe the guys in the house bothered him.

"...alright, nice guy. But can I at least get your name?" you asked quietly, and he stopped.

"...Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. Nice to fuckin' meet ya," he grumbled, "Now leave me alone. I wanna go get something to eat before those goons flood the place again, since I definitely know some of 'em are gonna be staying awake," and with that, he departed to the kitchen, presumably.

You watched him go, "...huh," he wasn't a happy camper, was he?

You felt it might take a bit before you could fully win his trust. Then again, there were a lot of guys like that here, huh.

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

"...exhausting," you mumbled, going towards your room, which seemed to be close to the other boy who was currently just leaning against his door, probably contemplating going back inside.

He saw you and turned towards you with a small, somewhat halfhearted wave. That was when your brain finally processed that THIS DUDE WAS TINY.

LITERALLY.

THE SIZE OF A TEDDY BEAR and with a face just as cute as one!

He had a candy cigar in his mouth and was kinda gnawing on it softly, it looked like, as he pulled his hat a bit over his face. His outfit...was that supposed to look like a prison jumpsuit? Under a leather jacket that was. His style was quite nice, aside from the way the pants looked. They looked a bit tacky, but you didn't say so.

"Judging by how your expression looks, must've been a pretty active day, huh?" he said. HIS VOICE WAS DEEP TOO WHAT THE HECK--

"Ah, yeah," you answered, exhaling and leaning against the wall next to your door, "I'm ready to just...crash. I don't even wanna change into pajamas."

He chuckled a bit, "I get that. I was in my room basically all day," he says, putting his hands in his pockets and looking up at the ceiling, "I didn't really feel like trying to socialize, even if Lilian said we should...this situation is weird as is, I needed a bit of time to process it by myself," he says.

"Understandable. But, hey, everything is calmed down compared to when we first got here. So maybe that's a sign things will be alright," you say, smiling at him reassuringly.

"Maybe. Or it could go horribly wrong, but who knows," he says, "....anyway, I was gonna go eat, but I ate lunch pretty late, so I'm not too hungry. I just wanted to stretch my legs," he cut himself off. He seemed like he wanted to say something but decided not to.

This guy gave off a whole aura of melancholy, it made you feel a little sympathetic towards him. But you didn't push him to humor you any further, nodding with another small smile, "I see. Well, have a good night then," you say to him. He walks off after you say so with a simple nod.

"Oh, by the way--I know you might know this already, but, I'm Y/N."

His steps pause, and he turns to you, "...alright. Nice to meet you," he took his candy cig from his mouth and turned away again.

"...I'm Ryoma."

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 1%**

* * *

 

Now that you had piece and quiet, you looked at your E-Handbook. Flipping through the apps, you clicked eventually on the heart icon.

The screen lit up pink, a virtual red curtain was drawn, and there were the names of all your potential suitors. Well, Nekomaru included as a platonic suitor in your mind.

You clicked on some of their profiles and finally saw talents. Ultimate Supreme Leader, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, Ultimate Cook/Chef, Ultimate Detective....some of these talents surprised you.

"Looking at talents and progress, I see~" Lilian spoke suddenly, looking over your shoulder.

You had to be careful not to punch her like you kinda wanted to.

"Yeah...hey, didn't you say that we'd talk about my talent if I didn't figure it out?" You asked.

Lilian paused, before humming, "Yep. But I thought you were more analytical than this....oh well!"

Tapping back to the main menu, she selected an app concealed in the settings menu by the tiny cog wheel icon.

It brought you two to a password screen, and she unlocked it using a quickly typed password.

Once it opened, she patted your shoulder, "There you go! Your own profile! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed now. Just wanted to check on you!" But her departure went unnoticed as you read information on yourself, possibly given by Hope's Peak.

The final fact given was your talent, and you were mildly surprised to find out what it was. It was both expected yet unexpected, such an out-there talent.

According to the Handbook and possibly Hope's Peak, you were..

_The Ultimate Love Interest_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~do people even care about this story anymore~~
> 
> vi from the future: like a total idiot i forgot ryoma and fuyu and gundham's...name, in my rush to get this out which i shoulda been more careful about, SO I HAVE EDITED IT, I am sorry for the inconvenient inconsistency.
> 
> Well, the intro chapters are now done! So now I can continue to actually work on what people are prolly waiting for--the romancing part, I guess


	5. Spending Time With Hajime, Makoto, and Kokichi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today is your first real day "participating" in this Game.  
> But nothing specific or special is really happening.
> 
> ...
> 
> Well, what now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~yesterday was my birthday hooray~~
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Request Count:  
> Hajime: **4**  
>  Makoto, Kokichi: 2
> 
> So, this actual starting chapter I suppose Y/N will hang out a bit with the guys for the afternoon!  
> There's Hajime, Makoto....  
> I guess Kokichi, too, sure.
> 
> Anyway, after editing my embarrassing mistake of forgetting Ryoma and Fuyuhiko (and Gundham's name) last chapter, have a chapter that has three of the more requested boys! (I'll check the comments of the update chapter to determine which I'll write next. wink.)

You woke up the next morning at an alarm on your E-Handbook. Turning it off with a slam of your palm, you sat up tiredly. It was only then did everything come rushing back to you as you rubbed your head.

".......ah, shit."

So, Ultimate Love Interest, huh?

That is both the stupidest yet most plausible talent you coulda possibly had in this Game. It didn't really occur to you that maybe it had SOMETHING to do with romance or....something like that.

You sat in bed, blankly staring into space as you processed everything, before getting up and sighing, "....well, I guess this is the first day my new life starts, huh? ....at least, for now," you sighed again, scratching your head as you went to take a shower before getting dressed.

Afterwards, you looked at your E-Handbook. It showed the date, and the time (it was still early morning, you coulda guessed that yourself though) and Lillian apparently sent you guys an announcement or something saying to look forward to the bathhouse eventually being a thing that popped into existence.

It really is beginning to be like a game.

"....well, I don't really wanna do nothing. Especially if I have nothing to do," you went to your door, opening it.

"Guess I'll go find something to do."

**Development Time! Which is Free Time, but apparently more romance-coded!  
**

* * *

You went into the living room first, yawning and taking a bite into some toast you went to get when you saw Hajime on the sofa, playing on what seemed to be one of the original DS systems.

You recognized the sound of another nostalgic game from your childhood and went over to watch him play. The two of you sat in mostly silence until Hajime flinched and finally seemed to blip back into living outside of a video game.

"W-Wait, Y/N? What are you doing here?"

"You don't want me here?"

You snickered as he stumbled over his words, before just laughing awkwardly, "U-Uh, no, that's fine. I just didn't think you'd be up so early, I guess."

"I was here for fifteen minutes, Hajime."

".....Ah."

..

Time passed pretty fast and as soon as you knew it, when you gave Hajime the DS back so that he could have his turn on the game again, it was almost dead! You both lamented over the dead DS but put it on its charger, which Hajime apparently had on him as well.

"Hey, where'd you get the DS from, by the way?" you asked, sitting on the couch and leaning back, "I haven't seen one of the original ones for a long time."

"It was in the warehouse," Hajime explains, also sitting back and letting the soft couch embrace him....careful, don't sink.

"I found it among all the other gaming stuff that was in there. I also found that game, which is also a game I played a lot as a kid, if you couldn't tell," he says with a shrug, "It was a while and no one said you had to pay for the stuff in there, so I just kinda...took it."

"Ah, I vaguely remember that game," you commented on the game rather than responding to his actual story about where he got it, "I don't think I played it as much as the other one, though, but I do remember it!" you laughed, "One of the characters in that game...I made a fan character just to ship them."

Hajime snickered, "Who didn't do that, though?"

"Probably a lot of people, but I digress," you rose a hand momentarily, then let it plop down on the couch arm again, "I drew tons of stuff with those two, it was nice. Though I don't think I have them anymore--I kinda think they got lost and are now just remnants in the childhood void."

Hajime nods, "I get that. I made a ton of stuff for games I liked--mostly art, but I also did a few clay sculptures, oddly? Apparently my dad said I used to do that and even had a few pictures," he blushes in embarrassment, "....the eyes looked like that one kind of goldfish."

You laughed, "Oh, man, beady-eyed clay sculptures were the best and worst things in existence."

Aside from Monokuma in a dress, that is.

You both sat in silence, disregarding the image of Monokuma that popped into your heads subconsciously for some reason, and sat in a nice silence, just kind of resting. Pretty sure you both dozed off, who knows.

"....y'know, Hajime," you spoke, and he hummed quietly to let you know he was listening.

"I feel kinda like you, me, and the two other ahoges get along well cuz we're like...the more "normal" ones, if that makes sense," you state, not noticing that you scooted a bit closer to Hajime and were now almost leaning on him.

"Yeah, it makes sense," he says quietly, almost sounding shy as he looked at the distance that was growing ever so smaller between you two, "I...actually don't even have a talent, so I dunno why I'm here, though."

You blink, "Ah, well, to be fair, my talent isn't a talent either. It's more like a fancy title I was given than an actual talent," you scoff softly, "Dunno how a Love Interest could be a talent. But then again, we're in a game."

And a crappy one, at that. Lilian is deeply offended, somewhere. But we don't care about her that much so let's go back to you--

"Heh, I mean, I guess that's true," he smiles at you.

You grin, "Right? So even if they get too wild, at least we got each other's backs. You seem reliable, so I'll be counting on you~" you wink at him and he blushes.

"A-Ah, alright. I'll do my best to take care of you," he said, then flinched, "I-I MEAN, LIKE, did that sound romantic or anything? I know in the like, c--context of this game it might be but--"

You snickered, waving it off.

"I get it, Hajime," you smiled softly at him and he returned it, albeit with a nervous smile.

"Thanks."

  **Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 7%  
**

* * *

It wasn't long until you separated from Hajime to go walk around the house more. You saw some of the boys, scattered about throughout the house as they did their own thing. Some of them greeted you and had a small conversation before doing something else, but it wasn't much.

You ended up in the library after a while, and it was pretty empty--the only guys you could see that were here were Ishimaru, Mondo (who was probably dragged along), Fuyuhiko, Kiibo....and Makoto!

Smiling, you went to sit next to Makoto as he was reading in one of the chairs next to a fireplace that was apparently in the far, far left corner of the room.

At least Lilian wasn't stupid enough to place it close to the bookshelves, you guess.

"Hey, Makoto," you said quietly, smiling as you sat across from him in one of the other seats. The boy's green eyes looked at you, then the book, before he put what looked like a bookmark in it and smiled at you.

"Hey, Y/N! You here to just relax a bit, too?"

You hummed, then shrugged, "Guess so--yesterday was eventful, I think we deserve some rest, I guess."

He chuckled, "I agree, everyone was panicking and then when that died down....eh, everyone was exhausted."

"Understandably. I don't think you-know-who really helped much--being vague and shit, most likely," you sighed, rubbing your head at the thought of the dolled up and obnoxious "host" of this game.

There was a somewhat awkward silence before you spoke up again.

"Hey, Makoto."

"Hm?"

"How do you....you know, feel about being in a game like this?"

He paused, tilting his head a little at you as he stared inquisitively, "You mean, like...being in a real life dating simulator, basically?" with that, he put a finger on his chin, looking up as he leaned into his chair, "....well, I guess it's kinda weird. Maybe it's because I'd be considered one of the less...interesting, of all the candidates," he laughs nervously.

"I-I mean, I am basically just an Average Joe. That one character no one really likes. So, uh, I dunno..." he shrugs.

"I mean, saying that implies that the same is true for Hajime, and myself, even if I'm the "protagonist" of this story," you smirk, "Also, your ability to be really enthusiastic and lift other people's spirits--I think you're worth more than you give yourself credit for!"

He blushed, smiling bashfully, and that was the point you realized that your original question seemed to get lost in reaffirming Naeggi of his totally huge amount of greatness. The two of you stared at each other for a little before laughing awkwardly.

"....w--what were we talking about?"

"I forget, honestly."

He smiled, looking down at the book with a shy expression, "...Well, that's fine," he chuckles softly, "...thanks for thinking I'm above average, though, haha."

You smiled at him, leaning over and playfully hitting his shoulder, "Of course I think you're above average. You're great, Makoto," you grinned, "If you weren't here, I'd have no one to call an egg. That's one of the best parts about you."

That made him chuckle a bit loudly, earning himself a scolding shush from Ishimaru, which made you both shrink in slight embarrassment.

Maybe you should take your flirting elsewhere, huh..

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 8%**

* * *

"Heeeey, Y/N~" you heard that familiar voice call out to you from across the hall. Turning to the boy in question, you saw Kokichi practically strutting up to you, "Whatcha up to today?"

You raised a brow at him, before simply humoring him and allowing him to tag along with you on your walk to....somewhere. You weren't sure where to go yet, really.

"I dunno, deciding what to do today, I guess," you say, shrugging your shoulders as the shorter male gave you an unamused yet oddly sympathetic? look.

"You're bored too, huh? I get that," he leans back, stretching before folding his arms over his shoulders, "It's been preeeeetty boring here since yesterday. I was kinda hoping someone would suddenly get all riled up and start something, but.."

Did he really wanna see a murder happen or something?

"I kinda like the peace. It might be less active than everything else that's happened so far, but it's much nicer to me. I can actually stop to breathe and think, you know?" you said, looking at him as he scoffed.

"I can but also can't see your point. I mean, peace is fine, but what about chaos? Occasional chaos?" he grinned, "I mean, I'm the leader of an Evil Organization you know! Chaos is practically my middle name!"

You rose a brow, something telling you this was a bit off.

"Evil, huh? So by chaos you mean like--death and destruction, right?"

"Oh, totally. We have over 10,000 members after all! A totally brutal and outrageously mean organization it is--we got it all! Torture as punishments, shipping people off to desolate, lonely, freezing places after we defeat them....isn't that legacy just right for a Supreme Leader?" he gave you a laugh and a smile.

You hummed, "You sure? I mean, on the outside, you seem more like an occasional prankster."

"You underestimate me that much? For shame. I'm telling the truth, but you just wanna doubt me like a meanie," he said with a pout.

"...." it took you a moment (for SOME reason, come on, girl!) before you smirked a little bit, "I mean, are ya sure about that?"

".....whaddya mean?"

"I mean, dunno if it's just me, but tellin' someone that you're telling the truth can be a dead giveaway for lies," you point out, looking at him with a smug grin of victory. You didn't even win just yet, settle down.

"You think so?" he innocently tilted his head, although he also grinned back at you with a small giggle, "Well, I suppose you're not wrong. But also not right! Just because I chastise you a bit for not believing me doesn't mean that I could be lying!"

You nod, "Fair point."

"Yeah, exactly. So, even if you perceive that as my giveaway that I'm lying, that could just be an accusation based off some bias in your own mind," he says, tapping his head with a finger as emphasis, "Sure, I could be lying, but do you actually know that? For all you know, I could actually be leading such a deadly organization! So it's maybe better to not assume things like that, or at least to take my word with a pinch or two of salt instead of outright denying me!"

Wow, he really demolished your assumption.

Way to go!

Anyway, putting that aside, you nod and put a hand up in resignation.

"Alright, alright, you win. I guess I can't say it's totally out of the question, in a world like this," you turn away from him, "Though, I have no way to fact check, I'll take your word on it for now."

You look back at him with a smile.

"Who knows, maybe one day I'll finally find out."

He blinked at you, then giggled and caught up with you as you turned away again and began walking.

"You're pretty silly, Y/N. I have mixed feelings about that whole conversation. Like, it was kinda out of nowhere but....not bad. You're definitely not stupid like I thought you had the chance to be!" he smiled at you smugly as you slapped his shoulder lightly, "Though, we probably have a while til' we're gonna be able to go home. So you'll have to take advantage of that time to prove yourself worthy!"

"Worthy?"

"Worthy of meeting and becoming part of my organization, duh."

You blink, then snicker.

"Alright, guess I'll do my best then."

**Love Fragment Collected! Romancing Progress: 3%**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry i either get too busy to work on this properly or i forget it exists ghdnfg
> 
> post-last-edit-update: i know i established that reader was s'posed to be a girl a lot already, but tbh i'm considering editing it to make it so that she's gender neutral instead.....d'you think that'd be a bit too much work to do for such a little change?
> 
> ....also, keep requesting guys to write for! I'll still write for the guys requested in the update chapter but do request more if you'd like!  
> anyway, life is hard and trying, and even if i don't get a chapter out very often, i'm still glad this story has supporters--old-ish and new ^v^


End file.
